One Moment Can Change It All
by Bruiser
Summary: Something happens to three of the girls that will change their lives forever...CHeck back for new chapters!
1. Almost Christmas!

One Moment Can Change It All   
Background   
  
Blair Warner- from Texas   
Has Blond hair, blue eyes   
Father's a lawyer   
Joanne Polniaczek- from the Bronx   
Brown hair, blue green eyes   
Polish   
father was in jail for stealing typewriters, mother's a waitress   
Natalie Green-   
Brown hair, blue eyes   
Jewish   
Father's a doctor   
Dorothy 'Tootie' Ramsey- from Washington, DC   
Black hair, brown eyes   
African American   
  
Mrs. Edna Garrett   
Red hair, blue eyes   
Owner of the store   
  
  
  
  
  
  
Slowly she ran her fingers across the smooth finish on the bike. It was a nice bike, to deep for her wallet, but she could dream about tearing up the road, leaning back and forth through the turns, feeling the wind on her face...   
"Excuse me, but if your not going to buy that do not touch it." a man in a suit and tie said with a growl. He had a large pot belly and unshaven chin. "I don't need some reckless teenager stealing it."   
"I wouldn't want to steal this piece of junk, it's not worth a nickel of my money." she responded placing her hands into her jean pockets.   
The man frowned and then looked for something... a security guard...he couldn't find one. "If none of my junk pleases you, why don't you just leave?"   
Putting her chin up in contempt, Jo walked out. She walked around the corner where nobody from the store could see her and let out a sigh. Can't she ever get away from the horrible stereo type? Did she want to? In some ways she liked for people to think she was bad, but she know she couldn't live with it her whole life.   
Jo slowly let out her anger and jogged back towards Peekscale. It was a long walk back, she didn't feel like getting on a bus. Anyway, she wanted time to think about stuff, like how Mrs. G would get through another year of business if things didn't pick up. She tried to not let Mrs. Garrett now how low their income was with inflation.   
As she got to the outskirts of town, the sun started to fade behind the tree line. People started closing down shops and saying goodnight to the neighboring shops. Children went inside to eat and everything started to settle down. Christmas lights made the town glow in warmth and beauty.   
Her house was right near by. She would have gone straight back but she saw an old widow, Mrs. George struggling with groceries. She only came out of her house every other week and that was only to get supplies. The lady was clumsy and seemed helpless. Tied in a bun, her hair was silver and thin. Her face showed age and hardship.   
"Mrs. George, would you like some help?" Jo asked jogging toward the lady. Mrs. George grumbled and nodded slightly as if she didn't want it but knew she couldn't handle everything. Jo grabbed the two bags and started to follow Mrs. George to her house.   
"Josh used to do this for me...." the lady said half heartedly. Saying nothing more, she opened her door and took the bags from Jo. After placing them on the counter she turned back with a wallet in her hand. "How much do I owe you child?"   
"Nothing Mrs. George." Jo started to turn and leave. But the old lady grabbed her arm.   
"I don't want no charity from nobody! Now how much do I owe ya girl?" her eyes raged in anger.   
"Let's just say it was my Christmas present to you." Jo said shrugging the woman's hand off. "It wasn't charity, believe me."   
After Jo walked a few paces, the woman sobbed. Joanne Marie Polniaczek sighed and turned around. Jo had gotten way to soft.   
"I never got any help from nobody." she cried softly. "I'm getting old. Josh isn't here. My life is falling apart bit by bit. I don't remember where I am half the time. I'm lucky to get up out of bed in the morning."   
Jo stood awkwardly in the empty street. She didn't know what to say, pity was not a way to deal with this. I'm sorry wouldn't help. Nothing she said would. So she just stood there.   
"Thank you child." she said. The old lady stood up and went inside. She shut the door slowly. Jo still stood in the street looking at the door. Everything felt numb. Then everything swept through her as if a dam broke. All she could do was go home.   
* * * * * *   
  
"Ok, so like she was wearing something so hideous that my skin crawled. She needs to think before she goes out in public." Blair said flipping her hair over her shoulder with a free hand.   
Natalie didn't care about anything but the warmth in the fire. It was suppose to snow tomorrow.....Tomorrow was two days before Christmas. She couldn't believe that her senior year was half way done! Her parents sent her Hanukkah gifts last night. She opened one every night for seven nights. Tootie even spun the dradle   
The aroma of baking cookies and the scent of fresh pine tree tickled her nose as the sun disappeared from the window. Looking over her shoulder, she smiled at the beautiful tree that everyone had decorated. Even she did, she celebrated both holidays.   
Tootie sat on the other side of the couch, sipping hot cider. Everyone decided to stay in Peekscale to celebrate it with Mrs. Garrett, even Blair.   
The door opened slowly and somebody came in. A cold breeze swept in making Natalie shiver. She figured it was Jo back from checking out a bike sale. she had been gone all day. The door shut and she slowly walked to the steps, wait Jo never goes slow....but she was the only one gone.   
"Hey Jo, how was it?" Natalie turned to see the girl half way up the steps. The brunette turned and frowned.   
"Not to good." she said quietly and then jogged up the rest of the steps.   
"Wonder what's up." Tootie shrugged and looked at Natalie. Natalie shrugged too and then went back to looking at the dancing fire. Blair had finally hung up and was just sitting at the phone.   
"You waiting for a call?" Natalie asked looking up. Staring into thin air, Blair didn't seem to hear what the senior had said. "Blair?"   
"Huh?" she said slowly coming out of her trance.   
"Whatcha doing?" Natalie rephrased her question.   
"Just thinking." she smiled and her eyes twinkled. For some odd reason, the house always fell into tranquility around Christmas. Jo and Blair stopped fighting and actually got along pretty well.   
Natalie nodded her head and decided to go help Mrs. Garrett with her cookies.   
* * * * * *   
Blair slowly climbed the stairs, thinking of all the past Christmas' with her mother and father together. It had been along time. Just when she thought she had gotten use to the divorce, a holiday would come and she'd think about that. She figured she wasn't the only one because Jo always got quiet when a holiday came. Sometime she saw the girl glancing at a picture of her mother and father.   
When she got into the room she saw Jo sitting on the edge of her bed with her face in hands.   
"Jo?" Blair asked The girl picked up her head and smiled.   
"Hey Blair, what's up? Whatcha need?" Jo licked her lips, rubbing her hands on her arms.   
"Nothing, just wondering if you were ok." Blair said as she grabbed a book off the night stand. "Mrs. Garrett's making cookies, they should be done in a minute. You should come down."   
"I will in a minute." Jo sighed flopping back on her bed.   
"Alright well, see ya." Blair said leaving the room and heading slowly down the steps. Everyone was still in the same place as they were when she left. Tootie still sat on the couch. Her mug was on the coffee table. Blair decided to go for the large arm chair. She plopped down and folded her legs underneath her.   
Opening her book, a picture of her family fell out. It was when she was about four months old. Her mother held her and her father put his arm around her mother. The picture, filled with bright smiles, made her hands shake. It seemed like such a normal family, where the father came home from work and talked gibberish to the baby and kissed the mother. It was fake.   
Mrs. Garrett came out with a plate full of home baked sugar cookies and ice cold milk. Tootie followed hoping to get her hands on the first ones. "Where's Jo? Is she back yet?"   
"Yeah, she said she was coming down in a second." Blair replied putting the picture back into the book and closing it. "She got back ten minutes ago."   
"I wish she had told me." Mrs. Garrett said with concern in her voice. "That girl's always on the move and I never know where she is."   
"She's eighteen Mrs. G, she can take care of her self." Blair smiled trying to get Mrs. Garrett to stop worrying.   
"She could take care of herself when she was born." Natalie laughed.   
"That doesn't mean I'll stop worrying about her or you Blair. Alright everyone can have some. Save some for Jo. They're still a little hot so be careful. I'm going to go upstairs for a sec, I'll be back down in a minute." Mrs. Garrett got up and went upstairs.   
Natalie took two cookies and a glass of milk. Blair only took one. Tootie decided to take three. Looking at Tootie, Blair smirked.   
"What?" Tootie said stuffing the first one in her mouth.   
"Nothing.... Are you hungry?" Blair giggled.   
"No, just Mrs. Garrett's cookies taste so good." Tootie said offended.   
Mrs. Garrett came out with Jo. They were talking low and all the racket from Tootie slurping milk and crunching cookies tuned the conversation out. Mrs. Garrett laughed and Jo just smirked.   
"Saved you some. We had to hold Tootie back. I tell ya, it's hard." Natalie said smiling. She had that twinkle of mischief in her eyes.   
"Thanks, but I'm not that hungry." Jo said as she sat on the couch.   
"You have to have one Jo. It's soooo good!" Tootie said with a mouth full of cookie. Mrs. Garrett gave her an odd look and Tootie nodded. "Yes, I know I'm not suppose to talk with my mouth full."   
Blair finished nibbling on the cookie and started to sip her milk slowly enjoying the creamy substance slowly run down her throat. She closed her eyes savoring the rich flavor.   
"Well, I'm going to make some dinner. I hope you girls saved some room because I'm making my specialty.. Lasagna." Mrs. Garrett got up from sitting on the coffee table and headed out. All the girls sat in silence.   
"Your so loud when you eat Tootie." Natalie said covering her ears.   
"No, I'm not. Bat ears." Tootie replied finishing the last cookie that she had grabbed.   
"I don't have big ears." Natalie protested.   
"No, if I said you had big ears I'd call you Dumbo. I meant you have amplified hearing." Tootie sighed shaking her head at her friend.   
Blair nodded off. The milk and cookies made her sleepy. What did Mrs. Garrett put in these? Why did they always make her so tired. She yawned and closed her eyes.   
"Look, Blair's falling asleep." Natalie whispered.   
She smiled and nodded her head as if agreeing. She heard someone get up and walk towards the coffee table. Blair slowly opened one eye, enough to see what was happening. Jo took the tray out to the kitchen. Something seemed strange, Jo wasn't acting right.   
Tootie brushed the crumbs off her sweater and got up. Natalie repeated the action and the two girls went to the table to finish a game they had started probable a month ago. It was funny how the two girls always started a game and didn't finish for months on end.   
The Brunette came back in and laid on her stomach on the couch. The girl seemed to slowly relax into a light slumber. So Blair wasn't the only one tired.   
* * * * * *   
"Your turn." Natalie smiled looking at the checkers board. The junior had no where to go. Natalie would win.   
"Are they asleep?" Tootie asked looking over her shoulder at the two older girls.   
"Looks like it now move!" Natalie said impatiently.   
Tootie sighed and moved. Natalie jumped the girls piece and shouted out that she won. Blair practically jumped out of the arm chair as Natalie paraded around the room.   
"Could you be a little more quiet?" Blair glared at her. Natalie shrugged and started to dance around Tootie. Hey, it was the first time Natalie had ever won against Tootie.   
"Yeah, yeah, you just got real lucky." Tootie said frowning. She started to put the game away as Natalie finished her victory dance. From the other room, Mrs. Garrett called and said that it was time to eat. Natalie's stomach started to growl.   
"Jo, Blair, it's time to eat!" Natalie went over toward the couches. The two seemed content to sleep on, so Natalie shrugged and went to the kitchen to start setting. Tootie followed on her heels almost tripping Natalie twice. "Would you stop following so close?"   
"I'm sorry." Tootie growled getting the plates. Geez, she was a sore loser. Oh, well, Natalie thought putting knives and forks around the table. She winced as Tootie slammed the plates on top of the wood. "Blair, Jo, get up, you guys have to set also!"   
Mrs. Garrett carried a big platter of lasagna and bread that was rapped in foil. The aroma tickled her nose making her smile in delight. Mrs. Garrett looked across the room at the two groggy older girls. "I told you two what all night studying would do to you."   
"We passed, that's all that counts." Blair huffed rubbing her eyes as she sat next to Natalie. Jo sat right next to Blair and Tootie sat next to Natalie. Mrs. Garrett took her place in between Tootie and Jo. Mrs. Garrett served the first serving as always and past them around the table. Natalie vacuumed her plate clean.   
She looked at the other girls, they had only taken three bites. Jo hadn't taken any. Mrs. Garrett seemed to notice.   
"What's wrong Jo, aren't you going to eat?" Mrs. Garrett asked her brows knitted with concern.   
"I'm not hungry." Jo said as she fiddled with the top layer of noodles.   
"Are you coming down with something?" Edna asked.   
"Nah, just not very hungry." Jo replied giving a fake smile. Mrs. Garrett just nodded and looked away. Tootie shoveled the food into her mouth and swallowed, still angry from her defeat. Blair ate silently.   
When everyone had finished they cleared the plates and cups. Now it was time to veg out on the couch and talk about the day. It was something they did just because they felt like it. They didn't have to say anything, but sometimes somebody would burst out about what happened to who or when it happened.   
Natalie flopped on the futon and Tootie did the same. Jo lay full out on another couch and Blair and Mrs. Garrett took the two arm chairs. Mrs. Garrett started knitting away and Blair read some book for college. Jo closed her eyes and the rest just sat there.   
"Has everyone done their Christmas shopping yet?" Tootie said cheerfully. "I just finished mine!"   
"Good for you." Mrs. Garrett said looking up from a half knitted scarf.   
Then it was silence again. The silence got on Natalie's nerves. So she thought about what she should say. "So, have we decided on what we're going to have for dinner on the 25th?"   
"Well I was thinking a ham would do." Mrs. Garrett replied.   
"We should go to a parade!" Tootie's eyes went bright at the thought of seeing big balloons fly into the sky. "That'd be a lot of fun."   
"You guys can go, but I'm going up into the Bronx and catch up with friends." Jo said opening her eyes. Anyway my mom wants me to stop by in the morning."   
"Are you going to be back for dinner." Mrs. Garrett asked raising an eyebrow.   
"I wouldn't have stayed in Peekscale if I wasn't going to have dinner here." Jo replied with an even tone.   
Everything was silent once again. A person could here the tapping of Mrs. Garrett's needles and Tootie humming to 'Winter Wonderland'. Blair flipped her hair and turned to the next page. This was Fun!   
* * * * * *   
Jo sighed as she slipped underneath her covers. They were nice and warm. Her pillow was the only thing she ever brought from home because it was made out of goose feathers. It kept her warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Nothing could be better then her own bed, not even her motorcycle.   
Blair finally came out of the bathroom and turned off the light. Jo listened to the quiet breathing of the others. She had learned each girls breathing pattern. Natalie's breathing had a long loud out take and a short in take. Blair's were short intervals of each. Tootie had long quiet out take and in take. The noise was music to her ears, as if it were a lullaby.   
She slowly fell asleep not even knowing she had.   
* * * * * *   
"It snowed!" Tootie said smiling. Her hair was matted and her clothes were wrinkled. Everyone was still asleep, but Tootie didn't care. Everything outside was covered with white powder as if a giant had shifted sugar across the land.   
Blair grumbled saying something about how early it was and how it was rude of Tootie to yell when everyone was asleep, but Tootie ignored the comments still looking wide eyed at the snow through the window. Natalie woke up next and sprang to the window to see. She had the same wide eyed expression as she scanned the back yard.   
"Ah darn it! I was hoping to go into Manhattan." Blair grumbled.   
"Who got off on the wrong side of the bed this morning?" Natalie teased.   
"I haven't even got up Nat." Blair growled.   
"Ok, who woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?" Natalie rephrased. Blair finally smiled at the joke and then stood up and went into the bathroom. Natalie slapped her forehead, kicking herself for not going to the bathroom before Blair used it for the rest of the day.   
Jo slowly sat and rubbed her eyes. Her hair went all over the place making her look funny. She grumbled about something and then fell back in bed. The older girls were definitely not morning birds. In fact they were like Grouchy from Sesame Street.   
When Blair finally got out fifteen minutes later with a full face of make up and nice matching out fit, Jo got up and went in the bathroom. The older girls always seemed to get the bathroom first.   
"Tis' the season to be Jolly." Tootie whispered happily.   
"Fa la la la la la la la la." Natalie giggled.   
Blair just shook her head and went down stairs laughing. Everyone would be in good spirits after breakfast. Two more days till Christmas. Tomorrow would be Christmas Eve.   
Five minutes later, Jo came out in jeans and a white sweatshirt that said Yankees in blue letters. She smiled and headed down stairs. "My turn!" Natalie jogged to the bathroom. Tootie shrugged happily staring at new flakes in the sky.   
* * * * * *   
Mrs. Garrett added a little salt and pepper to the scrambled eggs and then tasted them. They tasted pretty good. She dumped them on a big plate and started frying the bacon and sausage. Everything made her mouth water as she put the food on large plates. After ten minutes of cooking the first girl arrived, it was Blair. Blair was from Texas but never really stayed there very long. She had a very small accent that was only noticeable when she was tired or sleepy.   
"Morning." Mrs. Garrett called out as the girl grabbed a few plates and took them out to the dinning room.   
"Hey, Mrs. Garrett." Blair yawned.   
Jo came tromping down the steps with her hiking boots on. She gave a quick smile to Edna and then helped Blair with the plates and cups. Jo was from the Bronx in New York City. Her accent and tough talk told her story. Her ancestors were from Poland yet she was still a Christian, although her attitude wears thin when you talk about Hitler and she calls him a "shit head who wasn't suppose to live and went to Hell to burn for eternity."   
Natalie came down grinning away, probable because of the snow. The girl was Jewish, but didn't mind celebrating Christmas with everyone. Almost always kind to the others, she had a trying sense of humor that could get a persons head ache pounding. The girl sat down at the table with the others.   
Five minutes later, Tootie flew down the steps to the table. Tootie could be easily hurt so everyone was careful of what they said unless they were made at her, which seemed to be often. A junior in high school, the baby of the group, she always felt left out and tried to prove she wasn't to young to do what the other girls did. She always screwed it up.   
"Can we eat now? I'm starving!" Natalie rubbed her hands together.   
"Yes you may. I'll be in, in a second." Mrs. Garrett said picking up the milk and looked through the window. Outside was beautiful, if Mrs. Garrett were still young she would run outside and make snow angels. Nobody knew there was a child hiding behind her old body. She sat down and put the milk at the table.   
Tootie and Natalie dumped food on their plate and shoveled it into their mouths. Blair served herself slowly and strangely so did Jo. They eat in silence enjoying the good food. The house always got quiet during big holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. The older girls didn't fight, in fact they actually got along. She noticed every so often Jo or Blair would look at a family photo, usually of the whole family. She knew the holidays brought on sad feelings of their family breaking up. It made Mrs. Garrett remember her ex-husband and her sons.   
"That was good." Natalie said placing her napkin on the plate.   
The others were still eating. Jo played with her food. What was wrong with that girl. Mrs. Garrett shook her head and took another bite letting the eggs slide down her throat, making her warm inside. She took a bite of a sausage and chewed slowly letting the juices separate and she swallowed... 


	2. the sick and homeless

One Moment Can Change It All   
  
"Ok, two more minutes and I'll be done." Blair said as she fingered a piece of cloth. She walked towards yet another isle of clothing.   
"How can it be this hard? You come in here once a week. The whole store is not new!" Jo replied. She sighed knowing that there was no point to argue. She still had to buy her father a present. She had no clue what to get. Her backpack was full of gifts for everyone. She also needed to stop by a bike shop to get a new speedometer for her bike.   
Blair sighed and finally went to the cash register. "After this, lets get lunch, I'm hungry."   
Jo sighed again. She hadn't been hungry for two days although she made herself eat so she wouldn't starve. Whenever she saw food her stomach rolled over telling her that it would reject the food that she ate. She wasn't very excited about going to a restaurant.   
Blair paid for her millions of things and went out. Jo followed slowly her head was now spinning, making her very uneasy. She was sick, but if she stayed home Mrs. Garrett would get concerned and she didn't want to ruin anyone's Christmas. Maybe sitting down would help.   
"Where do you want to go?" Blair asked looking down the street for a restaurant.   
"I don't care." Jo said rubbing her temples.   
"Ok, then I'll choose. Let's go to the Yang Dynasty, I hear it has great Chinese food." She pointed to a blue building and Jo only nodded. They went over and a man came out. He was in full Chinese traditional garb and bowed to the two. Blair smiled and bowed back.   
"Two?" he asked in a strange accent. Jo figured he must have actually lived in China. Jo looked around as they walked in. Everywhere you look there were dragons and swords. All the waiters wore the same thing as the host. The smell of fried rice lingered in the air.   
They sat in the back at a small brown booth. The table had was made out of neatly polished wood. The menus were something else. They were made out of bamboo wood. The strings that tied the paper together were pieces of dried out straw. Although Jo wasn't hungry, she looked through the menu. They had both Chinese and English writing which was cool.   
"Ok, I'm going to have sushi, what about you?" Blair said putting the menu down.   
"Oh, I don't know Blairh. I'm not very hungry. I'll probable just get some fried rice." Jo said looking at the giant menu. The text blurred in and out of focus, so she put the menu down.   
"I know your sick." Blair said bluntly. Jo just looked up annoyed and then shook her head. "Don't deny it. You haven't eatin in like, what, two days."   
"I had breakfast." Jo said as her head throbbed.   
"Yeah what, a bite? Jo what's wrong? Come on, Mrs. Garrett's worried about you. We don't want you sick, especially during the holidays." Blair leaned on her elbows staring at her.   
"I'm fine Blairh. Give me a break." Jo growled. "Just a small bug. I'll be over it in a few days."   
"All right." Blair said shrugging as the waiter came towards them.   
"What would you like... to... eat?" the man said in very poor English. It must be hard to live in a country that doesn't understand your language.   
"Some sushi and a diet coke." Blair said smiling.   
"And you...mame?" He said slowly writing the order down.   
"Uh some fried rice and some water." Jo spoke as she handed the man her menu. Her hand shook slightly. Irritated, she stuffed the menu in his hand and smiled "Thank you."   
* * * * * *   
Natalie flipped through an old book, she loved the way they aged. Slowly they would turn yellow and the covers collected dust. The edges of the cover would become raggedy.   
"Ok, times up, time to go for something more entertaining." Tootie said making Natalie jump.   
"Patients." Natalie hissed feeling her heart slowing from it's marathon. "And don't scare me like that."   
"Mrs. G?" Tootie raised an eyebrow.   
"What?" Mrs. Garrett asked from another isle.   
"Can we go?" Tootie asked.   
"Hold on." Mrs. Garrett responded slowly as if she were doing something else. Natalie just snickered while closing the book she had in her hands. She was going to buy two books. Heading down towards the check out, she looked into the next isle not surprised to see Mrs. Garrett's head in a book.   
She put the book on the counter and waited for the man to look up from a book. He had a skinny long face and small spectacles on the tip of his long pointed nose. He looked to be around 5'8", very short indeed. After clearing her throat, the man looked up and gave her a fake smile.   
:"How are you doing today? Is this all?" He asked with a high pitched whine. Natalie just nodded and he scanned the books. "Ten dollars mame."   
She took out her nice velvet wallet that her mother gave her last year for Hanukah. Taking out a ten dollar bill, she handed it to rat boy. She couldn't help calling him a rat because of his voice and the shape of his head.   
"Thank you, have a good day." he mumbled going back to his book. It read 'How to Get a Women'. Natalie giggled softly and went to the door.   
"Finally." Tootie said with great exaggeration. "Let's go!"   
Mrs. Garrett followed the two outside. "Time to eat?"   
"Yes." Tootie replied with out haste. The three went down the block to a Pizzeria. It was small hole in the wall with dim lighting. The front was closed off with glass. On the glass it read Tony's Pizzeria. How original, Natalie thought.   
"How many?" a man asked with a fake Italia accent. He wore an Italian suit as if this were the nicest place on Earth.   
"Three." Mrs. Garrett said smiling. Was she about to laugh?   
"How about right here?" he signaled a waiter and a man came quickly to their assistance. The three sat down and looked at the menus.   
"What would you like to drink?" this guy was even more fake then the last one. His hair was nicely combed back with gel and he wore a chef's hat. He was tall and chubby with his stomach bulging out of his small shirt.   
"Three waters." Mrs. Garrett answered. So she was still their dietician.   
"Alright, bottled or regular?" he asked his smile fading because they would be losing money if they didn't order fountain drinks.   
"Regular." Mrs. Garrett spoke slowly looking at the menu. This would be a long lunch. Especially since they were the only ones there.   
* * * * * *   
"Did you get enough." Natalie asked cocking up one eyebrow. Blair came stumbling with three full bags. Jo followed in with her backpack.   
"As a matter of fact, I restrained myself from many things." Blair huffed.   
"She did." Jo agreed nodding. "You should have seen her, she put away two things in the same store. I was amazed. Nevah seen Blairh do that before until now. I'm very proud of her."   
Blair would have hit the Yankee if she didn't have her arms full. She just stared at the girl. Jo tilted her head and shrugged. Nothing fazed either of the girls when it came to arguing over how much they bought.   
"So you get me anything, or do I have to wait till Christmas?" Tootie bounded in chewing on a cookie.   
"Nope, not a thing." Blair trailed off as she followed Jo upstairs.   
"I have Grades everyone." Mrs. Garrett pushed the kitchen door open with four letters. She had her apron on as if she had been cooking. Her red hair started falling out of her bun.   
Natalie jumped up and jogged to get hers. Hey, might as well make this Christmas a good one. She started opening hers as Jo and Blair came down to Get theirs.   
  
Calculus- Semester: C Mid-Term: F   
US History- Semester: B Mid-Term: D   
Chemistry- Semester: B Mid-Term C   
English 12- Semester: B Mid-Term: B   
  
She stared at it for a few minutes puzzled. This has to be wrong! How could this be right, she had studied.   
"Jo, good job. I thought you said you were doing poorly in Philosophy. You have an A for your final." Mrs. Garrett said happily.   
"Really? Must have been the finals that pulled it up. I did better then I thought I would. Maybe I'm not to bad at this college thing after all." Jo said with no feeling.   
"You have all A's, your parents will be proud." Mrs. Garrett added. Jo didn't respond and everyone knew why. The Bronx girl had mixed feelings about school because she was the first generation to go to college. Also, none of her friends went to college.   
Tootie grinned from ear to ear as she looked over her report card. She nodded and handed them back to Mrs. Garrett. "So how'd you do Blair?"   
"Alright, although I think I could have done better in my finals, but hey, I didn't get lower then a C so I'm good to go." Blair said handing back the envelope to their mentor. "Nat's turn."   
"Notin to tell." She answered quickly hoping nobody would ask again.   
"Come on Nat, you always get good grades." Tootie said sighing. "Some how you and Jo beat us all out."   
"I think I have a miss print. I'm going to call the school." Natalie left the room with her grades in her hand. Nobody followed.   
* * * * * *   
The brunette slowly took off her shoes and socks and fell into her bed. Her head felt as if a jack hammer was pounding into her skull shattering it into billions of pieces. Her muscles were sore and her neck ached. Everything told her she had a fever.   
She slowly went through her relaxing technique. First her toes, then her thighs...   
The door slammed shut making her tense again. Darn it! Her stomach rolled but she had nothing in it so she didn't worry.   
"I can't believe... errrrrrrrrrrrr!" somebody stomped in.   
"Can you at least be quiet about what you can't believe?" Jo mumbled.   
"I just failed my Math mid-term!" she growled   
"Yes, and I'm trying to sleep, so keep it down or go outside." Jo answered with irritation.   
"It's my room to." Natalie said in a normal tone jumping into her own bed and putting her face up against her pillow. The room went silent and Jo started, yet again, to relax. She was tired, way, way to...   
* * * * * *   
"Mrs. Garrett." Blair yelled as she put on gloves. She couldn't believe she was going into NY to feed the homeless. No offense, but she'd rather be shopping. She had agreed to do this a long time ago, but now it didn't seem like such a great idea.   
"I'm coming Blair. There's not one gene of patients in you, is there?" Mrs. Garret said fixing her jacket. She shut the door behind her and went to the car.   
"How long are we doing this for?" the blond winced waiting for the answer.   
"Till two, it's going to be great." Mrs. Garrett replied unlocking the car and getting in. Blair watched as Mrs. Garrett placed the keys into the ignition and turn it. The car growled and then the engine turned. Blair had learned about cars while Jo talked. The Bronx girl always talked about them, so it was hard not to know the basics of an engine.   
They drove to the Bus station in silence and stood in the station in silence. The station had many people entering and leaving to do last minute Christmas shopping. Holiday music flowed through the building echoing of the dirty walls. Blair decided she would break the silence between them, hey it was what she did best.   
"Then lets go and get hot chocolate and maybe lunch." She said.   
"Alright, that sounds good to me." Mrs. Garrett slowly nodded her head. "It's good that you decided to come Blair even though you don't want to. There's a lot of disadvantaged families who don't get to celebrate Christmas or Hanukah. I wish Natalie, Tootie and Jo had come."   
Blair nodded and stuck her hands into her pocket. She waited for the train to come and take them over near Jo's neighborhood. Why didn't Jo come?   
* * * * * *   
Jo lay in bed not moving. Her forehead dripped in sweat from her fever that seemed to get higher. Her muscles ached when she tried to move or even lay still. Nobody was home, she couldn't call for help. Going down stairs would be dreadful, so she waited.   
"Good job Joanne." she grunted to herself. Had she ever felt so horrible in her entire life? Nah, not even when she had the chicken pox. "Ok, plan one. You get off your back and crawl downstairs. Plan two, you call the hospital... no you call 911. Plan three, hope the spasms in your back go away. Plan four, wait."   
She slowly shifted her feet to the ground as the whole room spun. Putting both of her feet on the ground would be the first accomplishment, but she had no energy to walk. Slowly the brunette put one foot in front of the other, making gradual steps toward the door. She looked down the stairwell and the steps bleared in and out of focus. Carefully she took the first step down. That, in itself, was a mistake. She had to quickly grab the rail before she tumbled down the staircase.   
"New plan." Jo panted. "Hold rail while going down stairs."   
Finally after ten agonizing minutes, her foot hit the last step. Sighing in relief the girl looked at her next target, the phone. It was across the room. Suddenly the room seemed to get bigger making her target impossibly far. "Here we go." 


	3. Helping-Hurting

One Moment Can Change It All   
  
The blond followed Mrs. Garrett into a medium sized building. Outside a sign had read 'Jona's Shelter'. Many men and women stood out there blowing on their hands. They wore old coats, scarves and gloves. There were children out there with T-shirts and shorts. Blair felt a little guilty about what she was wearing, which was a nice cassimere sweater and a wool scarf.   
The place was filled with chairs, tables, cots, and old couches. The walls were dull with old cracked paint and some flyers describing missing people. One had a little girl with light brown hair that said "Missing, please help find. Loving family waiting." The flyers brought all sorts of mixed up feelings into the social light.   
The pair walked towards a women, she was around forty and had small wisps of silver hair in her long black hair. Her hair was ragged and pulled unkemptly into a pony tail. The women wore a T-shirt and jeans, not seeming to care what she looked like..  
"Hi, we're here to volunteer." Mrs. Garrett's warm smile seemed to fill the room with warmth.  
The lady frowned and nodded. "Your Edna and Blair. Go to the kitchen to get an assignment. Wash up, there are aprons in the back. We don't want anybody who wont do their job, so if you don't want to, please leave."  
Mrs. Garrett's smile weakened but stayed as she nodded and headed towards the kitchen. The blond stayed right behind her. Inside the kitchen, there were pots and pans on the stove cooking up soups and bread heating up in the oven. Three people already started their jobs of cutting the food up, stirring the soup, and switching the pots.  
"Ah, you must be volunteering." A man smiled as her quickly and skillfully cut up carrots into mouth sized morsels. He had brown hair and his bangs fell into his eyes. The hair cut was foreign to her and seemed odd but cute. He was in his early twenties and was normal size in height and weight. He had a goatee which she hadn't seen except for in movies and drawings. "You two can bring out the pots to the serving tables and then when people come in, you can serve."  
"Alright, where do I get cleaned up?" Mrs. Garrett asked as her eyes sparkled in delight. The man pointed to a sink in the back  
After cleaning her hands she went back to the front and waited for further instructions. Watching carefully, she noticed that the man seemed to do things in a certain beat, as if he were cutting with the rhythm of some music she didn't hear. Blair waited patiently as she watched him pour the ingredients into the chicken broth.  
"Oh and my name is Nick. I volunteer here all the time. I'm the chief, I even bring my own ingredients to liven up the soups." He grinned.  
"I'm Blair and the lady over there is Mrs. Garrett." Blair responded slowly fascinated with his gorgeous blue eyes.  
"Nice to meet you. Ok, can you take these pots outside please? It's almost time for the lunch madness. It gets crazy here during the Christmas season." He turned back to his cutting board and Blair started taking the pots out.  
* * * * * *  
Sitting in the small train station was enough to drive her crazy. Natalie started biting her nails. She looked at her best friend. She was now a junior, how did time go so fast? What happened to all that time? Soon they both would be in college getting ready for the real world.  
"You think we should have stayed home? I mean Jo looked pretty sick this morning." Tootie said  
"Jo can take care of her self." Natalie said shivering. The snow had stopped falling and everything froze over the night before. The two were stuck at the train station until Blair and Mrs. Garrett came back.  
Tootie nodded agreeing and then started rubbing her hands together. She looked at her watch and then looked at the sign hoping it had changed from the two seconds she last saw it. It hadn't, still showing the large red letters 'CLOSED UNTIL TRACK IS FIXED'.  
"Hey, you two have been here for a while. Are you stuck here?" a deep voice echoed against the walls. Natalie turned to see a tall scruffy mid aged man walk towards them. Tootie nodded slowly. "You need a lift? I'm about to go home, no selling of tickets today."  
Natalie examined the man. He looked silly with his work clothes on, which consisted of a blue one-piece suit with a logo of a train. He had graying hair that had been a rich brown. His eyes danced as he smiled. "Yeah, thank you. That would be so nice of you."  
"No problem. Where do you live?"   
* * * * * *  
The ride in the ambulance was very bumpy and painful. When she got in the hospital, she could really remember what happened. A lot of people rushed around her checking her pulse, her temperature, her blood pressure, and asking questions. Everything was so foggy.   
Then she got to ride somewhere and they stuck something down her throat making her almost puke. Off she went again and they helped her change into hospital garb. She could hardly move her muscles ached so much. After that, well she didn't remember. Now she was just in a black hole, she could hear people, but she couldn't see. There was no point in hearing people because they were so far away and incomprehensible.  
Nothing really mattered, not even where she was or what was happening around here. She was just in a black whole.  
* * * * * *  
Blair looked at all the faces of the people she served. Most were happy to get some food, the rest were just annoyed and mumbled. All seemed to like being in a place where there was warmth. Mrs. Garrett had said this was right near Jo's neighborhood. She wondered if any of them knew Jo. Suddenly she felt like she understood where Jo had come from. Had the girl ever been this desperate?  
  
"Look Blair, it's you." Jo pointed to picture of a cheap hooker. Blair stuck her chin out and turned the page. There was a girl sitting in an empty street. She had rags on and her bones showed through her skin. She whispered with a light tone "Poor girl."  
Jo left the room slowly.  
"Hey Jo?" Blair called.  
"What?" Jo responded.  
"That must be you when you were little, eh?" Blair said slyly without haste. Jo bite her lower lip in anger and was about to explode, but she just left the room.  
  
Blair now regretted saying that. She had a feeling Jo did know how it felt to be with out food and shelter. When Blair was little, she had taken for granted that her family was rich, she would beg for dolls and dresses. She would cry if she didn't get what she wanted.  
Now everything was put in perspective. There were so many people with out food and homes. "None of them want your pity."  
She turned to see Nick behind her. Nodding, she understood that. Jo never wanted pity. "Yeah, I figured that out a few years ago."  
"So you've worked in a shelter before? By looking at your face, I would have never guessed." He grinned and nodded to some teenagers walking in. There were three of them. One was a girl. She had long black dirty hair that went down her back. She wore half finger gloves and an old trench coat. The other two had the same look except the were guys and had shaved heads. They wore toboggans to keep their heads warm.  
"No, not a shelter. Just have a friend that use to live around this neighborhood." Blair said as the three people came over.  
"Ah, who may that be? Why would any of your kind be living out here?" Nick asked.  
Blair gave him the official Blair Warner annoyed look. "My kind? What do you mean my kind? Anyway, she's not like me at all. Her name is Jo Polniaczek."  
"Sup Bucky, Jen, and George?" Nick asked. The three smiled.  
The girl talked first. "Dude, like a cop almost arrested me, but he had notin against me. He patted me down and couldn't find notin. So he just glared at me and went off on his stupid shitty marry way. How fucked up is that?"  
"I was there. It's all true. Anyway, what we got for lunch today, you special?" the guy named George looked into the pot. "Who is this fine volunteer?"  
Blair just glared at the boy and started to serve the three.  
"Yo, you just gunna dis me because you rich bitch? Man, I can't believe you rich mother fuckers, always thinkin your better then us poor folks. You ain't bettah because you got lucky and was born to some fuckin rich pricks." George spat.  
"George, it's hard enough to get volunteers as it is. Don't." Nick responded quickly. "So you know Jo eh?"  
Blair's forehead knotted in anger and she nodded. Why, does he know her?  
"Yo, Jo was the dawg dude. Man she was a legend! She beat every baller out here even if her moms boyfriend beat her or she hadn't eatin in days, yo. That's how she collected money man. Shit yo, now she's at some preppy school and she ditched us." Bucky shook his head.  
"Don't even talk dude. You told her that she should go." Jen stared up at the boy.  
"True man, true." George agreed taking his attention off of Blair.  
"Man, better to go to school then run away with us." Bucky sighed in defeat and then looked at Blair. "You gunna stair at us or ya gunna feed us?"  
Blair grabbed three Styrofoam bowls and started pouring the soup into them.  
"So how is she anyway? She be just as bitchy as you now?" George smiled.  
"No, she acts like you." Blair said giving the bowls to the teens.  
"Good, she hasn't lost her touch. See ya Nicky, thanks again, oh and Johnny said hi to ya." The three left to a table.  
"Sorry about that. They're my buds, use to hang out with them all the time until I got my big break. They're still waiting, I don't think they'll get one in their life time. They're to stuck on loving the streets. Me and Jo knew better I guess. So really, how is she? She doing alright? She hasn't sent me a letter in a year." Nick started whipping off the serving tables.  
"She's doing good although right now she's sick." Blair said carefully.  
"Yeah, well tell her I said hi and that she needs to write me soon." Nick took an empty pot into the kitchen.  
* * * * * *  
"Jo? We're back, the train station is closed." Natalie opened the door, everything was so quiet. "Jo? Where are ya?"  
Tootie came in and took off her coat. The junior went towards the kitchen while Natalie went upstairs. Natalie opened the bedroom door only to find the room empty. Jo's bed wasn't made and there was no sign of the New Yorker anywhere. "Tootie?"  
"What?" Tootie's voice rang up the stairwell.  
"Jo's not here." Natalie said walking to the night stand to look for a note or something. There was nothing.  
"Natalie?" Tootie called.  
"What?" Natalie turned towards the door.  
"You better come down her and listen to the answering machine." Tootie panicked.  
* * * * * *  
He was had been out of Med School for nine years, and he had never dealt with anything like this before. Annoyingly that was why he had to get a doctor from California who was old enough to have experience, Dr. Michael Stevens. Test came back saying that this girl has Paralytic Poliomyelitis. There hadn't been a case like this in this hospital for five years, nobody knew how to deal with it.  
The girl went in and out of consciousness. Whenever she was awake, she didn't say a word, she just stared at the wall as if her mind wasn't there. Dr. Stevens had told them to ice her arms and legs to help stop nerve damage although most cases like this, there wasn't much they could do. Before the girl had gone into her first coma, she had said she was sick for two days which meant that this case was going to be very progressive.   
Dr. Michaels' went toward his patient's bed and saw that the girl was conscious. Her hazel eyes stared at the ceiling barely noticing anything around her. "Hello, Ms. Polniaczek?"  
Her eyes slowly drifted towards him and her eyebrows went up as if to say 'what?'  
"Hi, I'm doctor James Michaels. We think that you have Paralytic Poliomyelitis, it's a form of polio. Do you have anyone you would like to contact?" he asked looking carefully at her pale face.  
"No." she said quietly and then her eyes went back to the ceiling   
He nodded. He left to the nurses station where twelve nurses scurried in and out of the files trying both to update them. Others went into the curtains to check monitors and to make sure the patient was comfortable. This was the ICU, the intensive care unit. The sad thing about working here was that a lot of the patients died here, in this large area of the hospital. The person who had planed this hospital, predicted that and put the room right next to the morgue.  
"Dr. Michaels? Patient 1-4-7 seems to be doing worse, his BP is down to 120. We need you over there stat."  
"I'm coming." he said heading over to curtain 5.  
* * * * * *  
"I never really realized how bad off some people are." Blair said playing with her food. Seeing so many people who had no food for days ripped her of her appetite. "It's scary about how there are so many people with out shelter or food who will have a terrible Christmas."  
"I know, that's why I try and get all of you out here. It's hard, many had parents that neglected them or they lost jobs." Mrs. Garrett said as she cut her chicken. Blair looked outside at the sky wondering why this happened to so many people. It was nearly Christmas.  
  
"How do you live like that?"  
"Oh, just knowing that it could be worse. It always could be worse. That's what I tell myself if I'm having a crummy day. If it rains, I just say it could have been snow, or if it snows, i could say that it could be hail."  
"What if it hails?"  
"Then I say I could be in a undeveloped country that has no place to go like this."  
  
She looked back down at her plate. Her food steamed as she poked holes in the meat. She felt weird to have nice clothing and to have such a good home. How would she enjoy Christmas knowing about all these people?  
"Blair, you can't put all that pressure on you just because these people wont have a perfect Christmas. You can't help everyone, but you can do what you just did which was to help out in the shelters." Mrs. Garrett said practically reading her mind.  
"I know that, it just... I always take things for granted and who knew people could have such a bad life." Blair sighed in frustration.  
"Sometimes Blair, it's not all about money. Some people have good lives even if they don't have a lot of money. Some don't want a lot of money. How about we go home and just veg out for a while, I think we deserve it." Mrs. Garrett smiled and collected her coat and purse.  
* * * * * *  
Tootie rubbed her hands together looking at the clock. Shouldn't the two be back by now? They were suppose to finish two hours ago, what's taking them so long? She looked at Natalie, the senior paced the floor looking out the window every few seconds. Her eyes lit up as Tootie heard a car drive into their drive way.  
Tootie jumped up and ran to the door. She slammed open the door almost pulling Mrs. Garrett to the ground. She caught her just as she started falling forward.  
"Tootie, what's wrong? You almost knocked me to the ground."  
"It's Jo... She's in the hospital... don't know why... we need to go!" Tootie said as she ran to the car. She closed the door waiting impatient for Mrs. Garrett to get into the car. Blair didn't even have a chance to get out, which was good since it took the girl fifty billion hours to get in. Natalie jumped in the car while Mrs. Garrett fumbled with her keys.  
"What's wrong?" Blair forehead knotted.  
"I don't know. There was a message from the hospital saying Jo was in the hospital.  
The ride over seemed to take hours, though it only took thirty minutes. Tootie stared out the window thinking of all the things that could have happened. Blair was more calm and patient then she had ever seen the girl while Natalie bounced up and down in the car.  
Tootie jumped out the car as soon as the car parked at the hospital. She didn't see anything coming, she just felt the impact as a car hit her side. Natalie screamed as darkness surrounded the girl. 


	4. Paralyzed, Fear, Lost

One Moment Can Change It All   
  
"Hey Tootie, nice of you to join me." Jo said sitting in thick green grass. She sat there smiling away with her chin on her hands and her elbows resting on her knees. She wore jeans, a white shirt, and a blue short sleeve over shirt.  
"Wait, where am I?" Tootie asked looking around. There was a stream across from her maybe ten feet away. The grass spread across to an open field, there were no houses or streets or paths around.  
"I have not clue. Just found myself here, I've decided I sort of like it here, it's nice and quiet." Jo said smiling as she looked up at the sky.  
Tootie shifted nervously. Was this real or was it all a dream, was she sleeping. What happened before she got here? Oh yeah, she heard a car and Natalie screaming and then everything went blank.  
"Is this real?" Tootie asked.  
"It's as real as you can get. It's what's inside of you. I don't know why I'm here, but your here because this is you, this is what's inside of yourself." Jo said seriously.  
"So, this isn't heaven?" Tootie asked.  
"Tootie, your not dead, in fact your fine. You just have a big knock on your head." Jo responded as if Tooties question was absurd.  
This sounded more like Jo. In fact everything about her except her clothes seemed Joish, what ever that meant. "So, your not really here, your just a figment of my imagination and you have no clue what's wrong with you."  
"That about sums it up. I know all that you know which is that I had a fever last night and that I wasn't awake when you guys left." She nodded slowly thinking. "Oh, and that I'm in the hospital."  
Everything got real bright and things disappeared. She heard beeping in the back ground the hustle of feet. She slowly opened her eyes and saw that the ceiling was moving which meant she was moving. She didn't know how because her legs weren't going. Oh she was on a hospital bed. She groaned as her head pounded with pain. This was definitely not planed.  
"What happened?" Tootie grumbled noticing her throat was parched.   
"You got hit by a car. you need to start looking both ways young lady. You were lucky you weren't hurt worse then you are." said a man above her. He was in hospital scrubs. "We think you only got some bruises nothing serious. We want to make sure you don't have a concussion. We're keeping you here for the night. Your friends said that they needed to go see another person when they heard you were ok. They'll be back in a few minutes."  
* * * * * *  
Mrs. Garrett looked at the poor girl. She was hooked up to so many machines at one time that it looked like she was made of wires. Bags of ice coved her torso, arms, and legs. Jo was pale and looked so fragile.  
Natalie had to wait outside because there could only be one visitor. The place seemed very rushed as yells of pain or anger echoed on bare walls. There were maybe ten to twelve patients inside this large open room. The only privacy they got were the little yellow stained curtains.  
"Hey Jo." Mrs. Garrett said as she sat down on the chair the nurses had given her. Jo responded by slowly turning her head. The girl smiled and then closed her eyes. "Well, I'm disappointed in you. I wish you had told us that you didn't feel well."  
She opened her mouth to say something and then closed it again as if she didn't have the energy to argue. The poor girl had some kind of Polio and a specialist was suppose to be here in a few minutes. Polio had been a big thing in Mrs. Garrett's life, in fact she had a friend that died from it. But it had faded with time and vaccines. How had Jo gotten it.  
"Hello, you must be Edna Garrett?" said a large aging man. His hair line receded and the hair he had left grew out silver. She nodded.  
"I'm Dr. Stevens, a specialist with Polio. I looked at Joanne's files and noticed she had never had a Polio vaccine. It's required by schools across the nation. I've also noticed other things that led me to believe that she didn't have enough money to pay for it." The man said quietly trying not to disturb Jo.  
"Yes, why would you make that conclusion?" Mrs. Garrett asked in the same manner.  
"Because she always had the government pick up her medical bills and she has records that show that she was abused for a period of time." Dr. Stevens replied.   
"What?" Mrs. Garrett asked. "She was never abused."  
The man smiled patiently as her went through a large folder and made an I found it noise. He pulled it out, they were pictures, pictures of when Jo was maybe seven or eight. There were bruises and cuts across her whole entire body. She had a black eye and bloody nose.  
"This can't be her." Mrs. Garrett whispered as the man escorted her out of the curtain so they could let Jo be.   
"Here are some write ups by her doctors." he handed them to Edna. What jumped out at her the most was three stab wounds taken in the chest just barely missing the heart. How could this be, why wouldn't Jo tell them about this? Then her brain answered quickly. The girl was stubborn and would never let any of them know.  
"Your point here is?" Mrs. Garrett asked with anger. Why did he bring this up?  
"I just wanted to know if my presumptions were correct about her history background. I like to know about my patients before I treat them. Anyway, I wanted to tell you that the diagnosis is correct, Joanne does have paralytic poliomyelitis, which is unfortunately the highest form possible. This attacks the anterior horn cells in the spine and neck. We x-rayed her spinal cored and it showed signs of aseptic meningitis, which is inflammation of the spinal cord. The problem is that she's an adult now and more serious damage can occur.  
"There's not much we can do except keep her calm and comfortable. We can slow and even save some of the muscles by icing the body parts that are being damaged. Also we can stretch out the muscles. That's about it, I'm sorry." He said his eyes full of sympathy.  
"What's the best a patient can come out of?" Mrs. Garrett asked quietly still processing what she had just heard.  
"She can come out just fine or she could come out with minor paralysis." he said. "In fact a lot of polio survivors come out without any muscle problems."  
"Thank you." Mrs. Garrett sighed in grief.  
"We put some Antispasmodic into her IV, that should also stop muscle contractions. I'll be back in a little while to check up on her." he said as he headed off out the room.  
Mrs. Garrett went back through the curtain into find Jo either sleeping or in a coma. She wasn't sure. She thought the girl was sleeping because of the peace across Jo's face. Would this girl become paralyzed? 


	5. Pain

"Tootie, didn't your mom teach you to look both ways before crossing?" Natalie asked, her voice in a joking manner, her hands rested on her hips like she was scolding her daughter. Her eyes told a different story, concern showed through. It was a very stupid thing to do and yet another mistake added to the tally.  
"Yes Nat, I'm sorry. I'll be fine." Tootie replied. "What's up with Jo?"  
Everyone got way to quite then. Natalie looked at the floor and Blair stared blankly at the wall. Nobody spoke and Natalie licked her lips acting as if her shoes were very interesting. Nobody spoke. The silence in the room was so thick, a person could cut it with a knife. A shiver ran down Tootie's spine.  
"What's wrong?" Tootie asked quietly looking at her hands.  
"Jo's got polio." Blair answered.  
"Polio? I thought they got rid of that disease. How bad is it?" Tootie asked trying to keep the panic out of her voice. She hadn't heard about a polio case in her life, but she had seen people who had polio, their legs were skinny and fragile. THey sat in wheelchairs... Don't people get vaccinated for that? "Didn't she get a vaccine."  
"Ya know, some people can't afford those things Tootie." Blair spat almost disgusted at herself. For the first time in her life, she saw Blair disgusted with money. The girl seemed to have changed a lot today, almost like magic, but then she remembered whenever Blair was concerned about someone else she had a rapid change that lasted until they got better.  
Tootie sat there trying to comprehend everything. It was so weird, a few days ago everyone worried about what to get their friends and families for Christmas and Hanukah. Whatever happened? In fact tomorrow was Christmas! Why were there some many people here on Christmas eve? Letting a tear roll down her cheek, she let out a sad sigh.  
* * * * * *  
Blair slowly walked up to her friend's bed. It was seven pm and Blair wanted to let Mrs. Garrett take a brake. The girl she had once known since ninth grade, was not here, only her body remained in the bed. Her hair spread out on the pillow like the hair you saw on a Egyptian art. She was hooked up to so many machines that it boggled your mind. Jo looked so fragile, nothing like she acted whenever she was awake.  
Jo was sleeping or so she thought. When Blair sat down on the chair, the girl opened her eyes and smiled. The smile seemed to show gratefulness and her eyes seemed to sparkle with Jo's unbroken spirit. Could anyone brake her spirit? No, hers was like a wild horses, wild and free.  
"Hey Blair." she said quietly and then closed her eyes.  
"Hey Jo." Blair answered back trying to sound happy. "Hey, you want me to catch Santa Claus? He's supposedly making some rounds in the hospital. Figured, hey Jo would want to tell him want she wants for Christmas."  
Jo opened her eyes and smiled. "Yeah, I'd ask him to get you... to stop annoying me."  
"Well then I guess your getting coal in your stocking." Blair said smiling. Jo frowned at that.  
"I wont be getting anything in my stocking this year except..." She winced and cried out in pain and then smiled again. "...except a new IV bag. Which actually isn't to bad of a present since I've been feelin' pretty bad."  
"Jo, do you know how stubborn you are?" Blair asked shaking her head.  
She grinned quickly and then winced again trying not to cry out, tears ran down her face and her back arched. What should I do? Blair looked around panicked. Jo was now pale as the hospital sheets and she was drenched in sweat.  
"Nurse?!" Blair yelled as loud as she could. A young lady, maybe 25, came running in and looked at Jo then ran back out. Two seconds later she came in with a needle inserted it into one of the openings in the tube of her IV. It took about a minute before Jo was totally calm. "What happened?"  
"This is just some pain medication, that should stop the pain temporarily. Just one of the things that happens." The lady said reassuring Blair with a soft honey voice. Her long brown hair reminded Blair of hippies. She was short but skinny. Slowly she helped Jo relax by stroking her face and telling her it was going to be ok. "I'll be back in a little while to check up on her. Call if you need anything. I take the night shift around here. My names Ann"  
She left and Blair stood looking at Jo as her facial features slowly came to peace. Everything happened so quick that Blair had barely realized what had happened. She had only reacted with reflexes. Now she slowly understood what happened.  
"Jo, you ok?" Blair asked quietly, but Jo was beyond worry and was now in a deep sleep. Looking at her, Blair let out a deep breath and then sobbed. It was Christmas Eve, it was not time to be in the hospital, but it was time to be at home in bed waiting for presents.   
* * * * * *  
Natalie looked out the window as small flakes of snow drifted to the ground. It was ten pm and Mrs. Garrett dropped Blair and Natalie off at the house and went back to the hospital. All her spirits had died when she saw both her friends in the hospital. This could be about the worst holiday season she had ever had.  
Blair sat quietly on the couch sipping hot chocolate. Neither of the spoke on the way to the house nor entering the houses. The warmth of the house seemed so cold now. She knew Tootie was going to be fine, but Jo? And what about her grades? Those were the lowest they could ever get. Everything that worried her seemed to tumble into her mind.  
"Merry Christmas Eve." Blair grumbled to herself.  
Natalie nodded agreeing with the irony of that statement. Nothing seemed right today, absolutely nothing. Blair seemed to agree. She wondered how it went with the homeless shelter. "How was the homeless shelter?"  
"As homeless as you could get." Blair grumbled.  
Natalie sighed figuring that that was the wrong thing to say. So she kept quiet. Blair stood up and went to the kitchen. Should Natalie turn on the Christmas lights? Nah, no point there.  
Blair came back in and went to the Christmas tree. She stood there looking at the ornaments. A couple of times she reached out and touched one. "I need to wrap my presents."  
"So do I." Natalie responded.  
"I figure all of us do." Blair said kneeling down to the few presents under the tree. Natalie walked up to the tree and looked at what Blair was doing. She was looking at the tags. "Whatcha think is in here?"  
"I don't know, maybe a book." Natalie said smiling.  
* * * * * *  
"Mrs. G?" Jo whispered.  
"Yes?" Edna asked as the girl opened her eyes.  
"I need you to do something for me." Jo looked straight into her eyes.  
"What would that be?" Mrs. Garrett asked worried about what the favor might be.  
"Go to my room and get the presents from under my bed and the money from my pocket. Then in the morning buy as many stuffed bears as you can and ask Blair to take 'em over to the shelter you guys were at. Would ya bring the wrapped presents ovah here so I can give 'em to the girls. Would ya do that? I know that's a lot to ask but I'm sorta stuck here tonight." Jo asked. "There should be about two hundred in my wallet."  
"Yeah Jo, I'll do that for you." Mrs. Garrett smiled relieved tat the girl didn't ask her to take her home. That would have been awkward and painful. Everyone should be home, it was Christmas Eve.  
"Thanks, Merry Christmas." Jo said smiling and then closed her eyes. Mrs. Garrett nodded her head and waited to hear her breaths come into a slow rhythm. She wanted to grab the girl up and hug her, tell her everything was going to be ok. Sort of like she did when the girls were young. Now something stopped her, she didn't know what.  
* * * * * *  
In the dark, Blair sat in her bed thinking. Natalie was sound asleep and no one else was there. There came a creak in the door and someone entered. She figured it was Mrs. Garrett.  
"What are you doing Mrs. Garrett?" Blair hissed.  
"I have to get some things from under Jo's bed." Mrs. Garrett said bending down to the other bend that was ghostly empty. She shuffled things around and started placing boxes onto the bed. They were wrapped nicely in beautiful wrapping paper. Then Mrs. Garrett took a wallet out and emptied it.  
"What are you doing?" Blair asked again puzzled.  
"Jo asked me to bring her the presents from under the bed and bring them to her. She also asked me to get the money out of her wallet and buy some stuffed bears for the homeless shelter that we visited. She was wondering if you could take them there." Mrs. Garrett said putting the presents into a bag.  
"Yeah, of course." Blair said quickly.  
"Good night." Mrs. Garrett paused for a minute. "Merry Christmas."  
"You to." Blair replied as her mentor left the room.  
* * * * * *  
Tootie woke up when two people came into the small room. It was a doctor and Mrs. Garrett.  
"She can go now, she seems to be fine. Call if anything appears to be wrong within 24 hours. She should be just fine though." The doctor smiled seeing that Tootie was awake. "Good news, your being discharged. You can go home now."  
"So I can go?" Tootie said still a little sleepy.  
"As soon as you change." Mrs. Garrett spoke as if she seemed rushed, which she probable was.  
* * * * * *   
Jo woke up when she heard carolers start singing. That was something that was annoying at first but after a while she was grateful. She needed some uplifting, after all today was Christmas. A nurse Came in to see if Jo was a wake and then opened the curtain.   
A group of maybe ten to fifteen people came. They included young kids to adults. All of them held candles and all of them smiled. Jo smiled an forgot about the pain that started to grow in her back. She saw other patients around her grinning, some mouthed the words, while others just listened. One mother started to cry, her son was in a coma and was maybe eight years old.  
"...Noooelll, Noel, Nooooooel, Noel. The first born angels..." they sang. This seemed to make Christmas a little more fuller.  
After they finished a lady stepped out from the pack. "We would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and hope that all of you to get well."  
That was a little dumb but they had taken their time out from their families to come here today so Jo didn't want to complain. They finished with 'We wish you a Merry' and then left. Everything went back to normal and the pain came back to Jo full blast. Maybe this pain thing was all her mind. Maybe if she didn't think about it, it wouldn't feel so bad.  
Nope, didn't work. She winced and closed her eyes. Again she lost control and yelped. She was a wimp, oh well. She heard voices far away and then slowly the pain faded as a person stroked her face and hair. Yeah this is great, im being treated like a baby. She had no more energy to expand so she just lay there as her mind started to cloud from the medicine.   
Maybe five minutes later she heard people coming towards her curtain. She figured it was probable Mrs. Garrett. She was right.  
"Jo you awake?" she whispered.  
Jo opened one eye to show she was listening and then closed it because the world seemed to spin.  
"I'll put the presents under the bed. Blair is taking the bears over to the Shelter. Tootie has been discharged from the hospital and is sitting in the lobby with Natalie. They're allowing more people to come in because it's Christmas. Do you want them to come in?" Mrs. Garrett asked softly.  
Jo opened her eyes and let the wall spin. Mrs. Garrett seemed to be spinning with it. "Sure."  
"I'll get them in a little bit. There's some breakfast here do you want some of in?" Mrs. Garrett asked smiling.  
"Nah, not right now." Jo closed her eyes.  
* * * * * *  
Blair walked into the shelter. Many of the people slept as she walked towards the kitchen. Nick was already there mixing some ingredients together. He looked up and smiled.  
"Didn't think I'd see you here. Most don't ever come back." Nick said with a smirk.  
"I didn't come here to volunteer. Jo's sick so she wanted me to deliver some stuff over here. She does this every year and ironically this year it was this shelter." Blair said sighing.  
"Ah, so what's wrong? A cold or something?" Nick asked as he started to put some of the mix into the pan.  
"You know what? I'm tired of the crap out of your mouth, ok? I'm not bad because my parents have money. Just because you use to live on the streets does not make you better then me and just because I have money doesn't mean I'm better then anyone here. Got that? So get off my ass." Blair snapped.  
Nick stepped back and then smiled. "You figured that out before most people do. Congrats. Now I can call you a human. So what is wrong with Jo?"  
Blair stopped about to yell at him but then he said that which confused her. Then she sorted everything out. "Your a real jerk, you know that?"  
"Ah yes, now that you got that out, are you going to tell me or not?" he said going back to his cooking. Blair hasted and looked at the floor. He turned back around and looked at Blair for a second. "That bad?"  
"Jo... Jo has polio." Blair said reluctantly.   
"What?" He looked straight at her. "That's impossible, she got a vaccine."  
"Apparently not. Her records say she hasn't." Blair responded.  
"Is she in the hospital?" Nick asked concerned. Blair nodded. "Which one?"  
"St. Francis'" she said. "I have Teddy bears for all the kids here."  
"She sent Teddy Bears while she was in the hospital. Jo's a crazy one I tall ya. Always has. But she never got sick, wonder how she got sick. Is she going to be ok?" Her asked turning over five pancakes.  
"I hope so. Where should I put the bears?" She asked.  
"Give 'em to the kids. If their not awake, put it next to them... Tell her thank you." Nick said. Blair left and started to bring in one bag at a time. She gave them to each kids. One of the mothers had tears in her eyes and thanked her. It was very emotional, more then Blair could ever think it could be.  
By the end she had tears in her eyes. She left and drove to the hospital with peace through out her body. No wonder Jo did this every year. It seemed to make everything worth while.  
* * * * * *  
Blair entered the hospital. There were decorations everywhere and with those decorations came smiles. Blair didn't know what Jo wanted to do with the rest of the bears so she brought them with her inside.   
Entering the ICU was different, more somber then the rest of the places. Maybe that was because none of the people could get up like the people in the other parts. These people were in worse shape. She went to curtain ten where Jo stayed and found that everyone was there. Jo was supported up so that she could sit.  
"Merry Christmas." Blair said smiling.  
"Thanks Blair for doing that Blair." Jo smiled seeing that there were extra bears.  
"No, actually it was great.. or fun to do. To see their faces smile." Blair said with satisfaction.  
"I know." Jo said sadly. "I see there are extra bears in there."  
"Yeah, you got a lot of bears." Blair laughed.  
"I've been saving up for it since June. Anyway, would you go around and see if you can find some kids to give these to? I'm sure you can find some in here that would be glad to have a bear or two." Jo said.  
"Your so bossy sometimes." Blair laughed and went to work on giving the bears away. 


End file.
